


Fix Fic

by cockabeetle, Kymopoleia



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, same universe as persephone's hobby, things happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 14:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4832207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cockabeetle/pseuds/cockabeetle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Kymopoleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Well," Erato popped her hip out and crossed her arms. "It would have been, if Eros hadn't cheated at the monopoly game we played to see who could take them."</p><p>Calliope covers her mouth. "No way. You played monopoly with Eros without me?!"</p><p>"We only did it because his card deck was rigged and his dice weighted!" Erato hurriedly replies. "He even cheats at jenga."</p><p>Calliope blinks. "How do you cheat at Jenga?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Erato and Calliope enter the room they and all of their sisters share, the door slamming open. Erato is grinning excitedly, a Victoria's Secret shopping bag on one arm and a pair of leopard print sunglasses on top of her head of perfectly straightened black hair. She jumps up and down for a moment, calling everyone together. "Ladies and ladies!" She yells at them. "We have news for you!"

Calliope claps her hands. Today she has a neon colored shirt, that... well, it doesn't look like it's in one piece. More like a few strips of cloth that cover her just enough to leave something to the imagination. "We're moving!"

Clio looks at them in despair. "Erato.... Callie..." She says softly. "Do we have to? Olympus is a good enough home to us."

Thalia pouts. "But this could be fun! It's been aaaaagessss since we had fun!" 

Calliope nods. "Thals is on our side. Plus, the boss moved, so we do too."

Euterpe looked over at Urania, then nodded. "So we're following lord Apollo to the camp?"

"Yep!" Calliope claps her hands again. Terpsichore frowns. "Do they have a ballroom? Can I build one?"

Polyhymnia whispers to Melpomene about sacred texts, and Melpomene covers their faces with her tragic mask. When she pulls it away she glances at Thalia. "I'll follow Chuckles anywhere." Erato squealed happily in front, and grabbed her sister's hand. "Please?" She begged.

Thalia grins. "I think it'll be fun! Let's go!"

Erato did a quick count on her fingers. "Majority vote, we're going!" She looked back at Calliope, a gleam in her eyes.

Calliope cheers, and Terpsichore sighs. "Can we check about the ballroom thing? I need somewhere to do my work!"

"There's a stadium?" Clio volunteers softly.

Terpsichore nods. "I can work with that."

Urania and Euterpe go to start getting packed, and Clio follows after a moment, mumbling about her nook.

Thalia throws a handful of confetti, grinning. "Finally! This place got old back in the dark ages!"

"I like it, it matches your dating history." Melpomene replies, flipping the mask over her face dramatically. Erato giggles.

Thalia sticks her tongue out. "Well at least I /have/ a dating history!"

Melpomene puts a hand to her forehead mockingly. "Oh, the horror!" She deadpanned.

Thalia huffs. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

"And you'd know how much of a joke the mere idea of me going on a date is." Melpomene replied, rolling her eyes obnoxiously.

"Well... yeah, you've got me there. Too bad I'll never get to see it, it'd be the best joke in history."

"Your idea of fashion is pretty funny." Erato buts in.

Thalia looks up. "Is it? I was going for hilarious!" She grins.

"Know what would be real hilarious?" Euterpe asks, bringing a full bag out into the living room. "You helping pack." Somehow, over the years, she'd become best at it, such as how Urania became more and more flighty.

Thalia snorts. "Nah, what's funny is the idea of Frowny Face here helping pack. That'd be hilarious."

Melpomene puts her mask into her satchel. "Everything I need is on my person." She hears a small crash and a yelp from Clio, then practically sprints out of the room, her sandals making clacking noises. The armoire she kept with a shrine to Johnny Depp was, in fact, apparently coming.

Thalia snorts. Calliope smiles. "We'll be ready soon, right?"

Erato goes over to Calliope. "Have we called ahead, I want wherever I'm staying to be stocked with bubble bath."

"We agreed it'd be a surprise for the boss!" She whispers back, frowning.

Erato pouted. "Fine, but only 'cause he misses us so much. He always looks so sad in the skype calls."

Calliope nods. "That's why it's a surprise. Maybe we'll make him cry happy tears? That always makes Mels happy."

Erato smiled and fanned herself. "Happy tears are so in. He loves us all so much, I'm so happy."

"Yeah!" She grins, and claps her hands.

Erato hugged Calliope. "I love you, Callie."

Calliope hugged her back. "I love you, too. Do we have any pet projects planned?"

"Those heroes. They're all pretty good at the surface, but I just cannot stand so much with them? Especially that one, Hephy's."

"That Valdez kid? Yeah, he bothers me. But shouldn't we start with Perseus 2.0?"

Erato winces. "You're right, this pains me to say, but he's less work than Valdez."

Calliope nods. "Save the most work for last, so we can really concentrate on him, right?"

Erato nods. "Can we do little things too? I noticed Aphy's babies, Tanaka and McLean, weren't getting along. And that makes me sad, because they could be so great together!"

"Together? Isn't there a taboo against that, now?" Calliope blinks.

"No, not together together!" Erato shakes her head quickly. "Familial love is a thing I do too, you know. I think if they would be best friends and best sisters, they could do anything. And, oh, I adore the dynamics! It's just like those novellas."

Calliope nods slowly. "Oh, okay. Are you gonna work on McLean's relationship too?"

"Her and Grace?" Erato made an 'eh' noise.

"Mm... well... Did you see her and Chase, though?"

Erato giggled. "What do you think I do when I go to 'visit Ann Pi?' Annabeth, Piper, otp."

Calliope rolls her eyes. "Of course. And I assume you're the reason their boyfriends get along so well, too?"

She nodded. "Duh."

Calliope nods. "Yeah, you're right."

"Well," Erato popped her hip out and crossed her arms. "It would have been, if Eros hadn't cheated at the monopoly game we played to see who could take them."

Calliope covers her mouth. "No way. You played monopoly with Eros without me?!"

"We only did it because his card deck was rigged and his dice weighted!" Erato hurriedly replies. "He even cheats at jenga."

Calliope blinks. "How do you cheat at Jenga?"

Erato grit her teeth and shook her head.

Calliope pouts. "You can't bring that up and then not explain it! You /have/ to spill."

"It was a bad experience." Erato shuddered.

Calliope sighs, but she backs down. "Okay, okay. So, how are we gonna fix Perseus 2.0? His personality, his relationship?"

"His fatal flaw, his powers, his personality, his relationship, why not everything? Call it a care package from his cousins, the Muses?"

"Got it."

Erato nods. "Then, with the improved Perseus Jackson, we can move every other motion."

"Yep~ and by then, maybe Valdez will be manageably easier to fix."

"Don't ask for miracles, Callie." Erato chided.

~o~

Apollo looked tearily between the nine girls before him, a wonder and confusion filled smile covering his face. "But- bu- what are you all doing here?" He asks, opening up his arms, Erato rushes forwards to take his left side while Apollo beckons for them all to come forwards for a group hug. "Are you staying?" He asks.

Calliope claps her hands, eyes shining a little. "Mmhmm! We move where you move, we just had to make a few preparations!" Thalia drags Melpomene into the group hug, giggling.

Everyone joins in, and Apollo can't help but start happy-gross-crying.

They'd appeared in front of the Big House, both early and late enough in the day that nothing important had been going on. There were a few campers whose attention had been caught, but they were smart enough not to say anything.

After a while Apollo pulls back, rubbing the tears off his face. Urania offers him a space-themed handkerchief, and he takes it thankfully.

Thalia pulls back, pulling out her bugle and tooting it a few times in triumph. Calliope hugs Erato.

Erato hugs back, bouncing. "So, what do we do now? Explore? Meet people? Go into the woods and plo- I mean talk?"

"Let our sisters set up living quarters while we get started?" Calli grins.

Erato nods, and hands her bag to Euterpe- she trusts her with her things. Every time Euterpe does anything bad she feels guilty and sings about it for hours.

Calliope gives her own bag, a tiny little thing, to Terpsichore, with instructions to hold onto it until she asks for it again. Terp's great at following directions, especially when she's not paying much attention to them.

Erato takes Calliope's arm and kisses Apollo on the cheek before starting to walk away from the rest of the group. "Where should we go to chat?"

"I've heard on a few vines that there's this little clearing with a mound of stone, Zeus's Fist. Or it was there, it's been forever since I last heard of it maybe something happened. The clearing should still be pretty private, dontcha think?"

Erato nodded. "Perfect."

Calliope claps her hands. They pass the cabins, and she grins. "D'ya think we should visit the boss's kids, too? Check them out?"

Erato hums. "Maybe. Do we think any of them could be good enough for anything fun?"

Calliope shrugs. "Depends. Which kind of fun?"

"Fixing others."

"Maybe. We'd need to study them. Did you have any in mind?"

"Not particularly, that's why I proposed we look over them."

"Alright. A side project to go along with the pet project, hmm?"

"Boss's babies deserve to be happy." Erato cooed.

"Everybody's babies deserve to be happy. And good."

Erato leaned her head on Calliope's shoulder. "Why don't we just sit down somewhere down here? That clearing will take much too long to get to."

"Yeah, okay. So, Perseus 2.0 and his girlfriend first, right?"

Erato nodded. "That daughter of Athena was told by Aphy that her love life would be interesting, I say she deserves better."

"So much better. Honestly." Calliope sighs, drumming her fingers on her thigh. "I could work on Perseus's personality, and that 'flaw' while you work on his relationship?" A pad of paper and a pencil appear in her hands. "What flaw should we give him? Maybe something to do with that big mouth of his?"

"I think vanity would be interesting," Erato says, sitting down on some form of stone bleacher- they're in a stadium-esque area. "Or perhaps greed? We could play it off as greed for his friends and for things to go well."

"Greed'd be cool. But Vanity would be also cool." She taps her chin with the pencil. "Which would be better?"

"Greed. It's closest to what he already has."

Calliope nods. "Got it. Least amount of work" She starts scribbling down notes.

Erato nodded, and hummed. "About his girlfriend, Annabeth. I'm torn. Should I put her with some other girls, or should I fix her? Aphy ruined her when she made her bend over backwards to be with Perseus."

"Maybe a bit of both?"

Erato bites her bottom lip as she thinks. "Hm. Her and Piper would be cute, but then Jason would be left. Unless his bromance with Perseus lost the b."

Calliope smiles. "Doesn't he have a thing for blonds?"

Erato nods. "First Malia- his third grade crush who he doesn't remember, then Luke, then Annabeth. Calypso wasn't blonde, but she's too cute not to count. Jason is just another blonde on the list."

Calliope smiles. "Exactly."

Erato nods and pulls out a tiny pink notebook, and holds out her hand. "Can I borrow your pen? I need to write it down."

Calliope hands her pencil over, smiling.

Erato twirls some hair with her right hand as she scribbles with her left. "And under the stars," She mumbles aloud as she writes. "The pair shared a glance. And as far as they could see, they only saw each other. And they leaned together and shared their skies, those perfect blue and swirling green." She nods, and then adds under it "-Percy/Jason". "And that's taken care of!"

"Mmhmm." Calliope smiles a little, reaching for her pencil. "I've fixed his flaw, but his personality needs work. He's still all about his girlfriend."

"Maybe getting laid will fix him and make him a bit less... Fanatical." Erato nodded.

Calliope nods. "But we should give him a few things. He forgot that best friend of his, didn't he? Should I bring him back?"

Erato nodded. "Yes, definitely."


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours after they get there, Thalia gets bored hanging around her boss and decides to sit in the Mess Hall, playing with a nook she'd swiped off Clio. It had youtube access, and the comedians were great.

Percy was coming into the mess hall for lunch when he saw a familiar face next to some unfamiliar ones at the big table. "Thalia?" He asks.

Thalia glances up, nodding. "It's good to see some demigods know of me." She grins, as the Nook declares; "This first song, it's called... A world on fire. Aah! AHH!!"

"Of course we know you! Don't tell me becoming a hunter made you pretentious." Percy rolled his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. "So how is Lady Artemis, and where are the rest of the girls?"

"Hunter, Artemis? What are you talking about?" She frowns.

"You're Thalia Grace, commander of Lady Artemis' hunters?" Percy volunteered.

"You're way off, Perseus number two. You did get the name right, sort of, so I'll give you a point for that."

His eyebrows furrowed. "What are you talking about?" Beside her, Melpomene- not that Percy knows that though- pipes up. "She means that she isn't your friend, she's a goddess." Percy nodded. "I already knew that Thals was a goddess, the rest is confusing."

Thalia sighed, and pulls out her mask. "Mels, how did this kid save the world, he's so dumb. It's not even funny."

Melpomene nodded, covering her own face with her mask. "He definitely falls under my realm of theater."

Thalia giggled. "I love it when you make jokes, sometimes they're even funny." The Nook starts talking about a poem, so Thalia turns it off.

Melpomene snorted and put her mask back. "Thank you. Now, he looks so sad and confused, just like a puppy. Do something, Thals."

Thalia pulls her bugle horn out, grinning. "A little serenade should help, shouldn't it?"

Percy holds up his hands. "I have no idea what's going on. Thalia, are you here for your brother?"

"Brother? I don't have a brother. I've got 8 sisters and a boss, and a couple kids, but no brothers."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows as he thought. "Eight? Wha..." Euterpe groans from behind her iPhone, where she's been taking selfies. "We're the muses, Perseus. Nine goddesses, follow Apollo around?" She offers.

Thalia toots her bugle. "You're cute, but you're not very funny." She pats Percy's cheek.

Percy thinks for a moment, then his eyes widen. "Oh."

She holds her mask to her face. "Do you know who I am, yet?"

"The muse, Thalia." He replies. "Apollo's groupie."

"Ding ding ding! Give the boy a prize!" She throws a handful of confetti.

Percy winced. "Huh."

Thalia smiles. "You're cute. Dumber than dirt, but cute. Looks kinda like Callie, doesn't he, Mels?"

Melpomene tapped her bottom lip. "Think they could be related, somewhere down the line?"

"Well technically we are all his cousins." She rationalizes.

Melpomene rolled her eyes. "I mean down the line as in matrilineal."

"Does Callie have kids? Like, with mortals?"

"She might have. I don't keep track of everyone else's kids." Melpomene shakes her head. "I don't have any of my own and I won't watch any of yours."

"I don't have that many." Thalia waves her hand. She smiles at Percy. "Yeah, we're here cause the boss is here."

Percy blinked. "Why do you call Apollo the boss?"

Thalia blinked. "Cause... we do? Like, I don't ask questions, I make jokes."

"Aren't you all cousin-siblings?" He asks, eliciting an eye roll from Euterpe, who'd been listening in. "If that surprises you, then you must be new to this."

"He's an Olympian, we're Muses. We follow his lead because it makes him happy. Did you see him crying with happiness earlier? That was us."

Percy shakes his head, he'd spent the day working on something for Annabeth.

Thalia sighed. "You need to work with me, kid. I can't do all the work here."

"I was busy." He shrugs.

Thalia shakes her head. "Comedy doesn't always have to be rooted in fact, and in fact is rarely completely true."

"I have no idea what you're talking about... I'm going to walk away." He pointed towards the table where Nico is sitting by himself, half asleep.

She sighs. "Mels, it's a tragedy. The greatest hero of the decade doesn't understand jokes. How do we live with this?" She starts whining.

Melpomene wraps an arm around her sister, pulling her mask over her face. "It is truly a tragedy, Thals."

Thalia hides her face in Melpomene's shoulder. "Why." And then she has an idea. "Do you think I could get Callie to give him a sense of humor?"

Melpomene squeezed her shoulder as she watches the hero walk away. "As long as I can add a little something. I know she and Erato are planning something, they aren't as sneaky as they think they are."

"Well we all know they're doing something. Duh."

"As long as they fix the mess of this epic, I'm good. I'm still angry about the end for that damn Valdez." Her eyes narrow. "I had him slanted for a tragic end. He was mine, and then Aphrodite stepped in, deciding he was under her jurisdiction. If I have my way," she shakes her head.

Thalia nods. "I don't like him. His jokes weren't very good and he really should've died. I hope they fix that."

"He would have been perfect if he had died. Because he was a terrible person when he was alive and he was a terrible person when he died, but it was a heroic death. Now Aphrodite got around a rule she helped put into place, just for the sake of a bad romance!" Melpomene pulls her mask off her face and leans her face into Thalia's hair. "Ugh."

Thalia groans. "And there's not even a good joke I could make about it! Its a shitty move. I don't like it."

"She thinks she's the only one with any claim to those demigods." Urania pipes up. "I put that Hazel Levesque in the stars when she died, I put every interesting demigod into the stars. And she ignored me, likes to mess with my constellations. There's a reason Romeo and Juliet were called 'star-crossed'." She shakes her head, the dots in her hair glimmering in the late afternoon light.

Thalia whines incoherently. Terpsichore sighs. "I can't even complain. Nobody has needed my talents often enough to abuse them."

Euterpe puts a hand on Terp's shoulder. "I think it's because they don't value our talents anymore. The art of song and dance is so unappreciated now."

Terp pouts. "At least you can do stuff. All I ever get asked for is choreography for musicals."

"We go hand in hand. Every song is better with you dancing to it, Terp."

Terp sniffled a little. "Really?"

Euterpe nodded. "I would never want anyone else in front of my songs."

Terpsichore wipes her face. "I don't know what to say."

"Just say that you know and smile for me. I love your smile." Euterpe taps her chin, angling it up towards herself.

Terpsichore smiles brightly. "You're my favorite sister."

Euterpe kisses her forehead. "And you, mine."

Terp giggles and hugs her.

Polyhymnia looks up from her notebook, and elbows Urania. "Look at them, acting as if we all really have favorites." Urania looks at her weirdly. "We do."

Thalia nods. "Yeah, mine's Mels."

Melpomene nodded. "If we have an other half, we're allowed to have a favorite. Well, even then, picking favorites is just something we all do."

Thalia nods again. "Yeah. Plus Callie and Erato clearly like eachother more than anybody else."

"They always work together." Melpomene adds. "Clio doesn't have a favorite because she's too busy reading and as long as we don't lose her books, she's good. So, either one of you can have an unrequited favorite, or you can choose each other." Urania looks at Polyhymnia without saying anything.

~o~

Calliope crumples up a third page, groaning. "Erato, why isn't this workiiiiinnnggg?"

Erato has laid back, erasing some verses furiously. "I don't know!" She groans. "Why is Leo Valdez so trash?"

Calliope scribbles something, only to erase it after a few seconds. "I don't knooooowww. He's impossible to work with or clean up."

"We should just follow Mel's example and kill him off. It'd really be better."

"But then we worked so hard with nothing to show for it."

"The only way to fix him is to scrap him and start from scratch."

"I'm gonna keep trying. I'll start fixing him earlier in life, though. Maybe that will help?"

Erato nodded. "What about me? Can I just make him officially Ace/Aro?"

"Yes. Gods, yes."

Erato sighed in relief and wrote down a quick haiku- "damn Leo Valdez/ aromantic asexual/ but still pathetic". She signed it "-Leo/no one".

Calliope starts writing, mumbling to herself. "now, since that's taken care of...." She pauses. "Wait. What about Calypso?"

"Let's say she falls in love with Reyna, that roman praetor?" Erato shrugs. "Then Reyna helps her escape because that girl can do anything."

"Ooh, it also fits Aphy's dumb little prophecy, doesn't it?"

She nods. "Definitely. Calypso is as far from a demigod as we are."

Calliope grins. "Perfect."

Erato adds a new poem, a three stanza ballad, about Reyna and Calypso.

Calliope begins scribbling a new backstory and personality for Aro!Ace!Leo Valdez. She also writes a quick note for Thalia's help with his ability to tell jokes.

"Is there anything else we might be able to try to make him less bad?"

"Friendships. We should fix his friendships. And his understanding of people."

"Will Hephy let us?" Erato asked.

"Well, currently he treats them like disposable parts whose only purpose is to make him happy. And that's done nothing but make him trash."

Erato nods. "Should I do a quick poem about his friendships, then?"

"Yes please."

Erato starts it, and the gist of it is "Leo is less of an ass". The poem is signed "Leo/being a decent person."

Calliope scribbles a few lines of her own. "Nobody else has ever given me so much trouble. Ugh."

Erato nods in agreement.

Calliope erase a few lines, grumbling. "He was so cute at the beginning, too. I mean, he had issues, but I didn't think he needed much work."

"I didn't think any of them needed much work. I think Perseus went bad when he beat Ares."

"...Yeah."

"Then he just..." She sighed sadly.

"He got so bad. But we had to wait 'til the story finally ended. I liked what Persephone did, that one time, though. That was cute."

Erato blinked. "What did she do? I can't remember."

"She kept him during those 8 months, remember? And she did the thing, with his dreams. He doesn't remember, but that was cute."

Erato blinked, then nodded. "Oh, yes, I wasn't sure if I was remembering correctly."

"Mmhmm. That was super cute. Like, that was the best." She grins a little.

Erato sighs. "Can we get more of that? I was invested in that before it ended."

"We could. We could fix di Angelo, too. Him and the boss's kid was weird. Maybe the cutie Persephone had would be a better match?"

Erato nodded. "Their aesthetics match way better. I know opposites attract, but that pair just clashed."

"And that age difference was a little dangerous. Like, Solace, right? He's like, twice di Angelo's physical age."

Erato nodded. "What was Ganymede thinking? This isn't Athens."

Calliope nods. "Ugh. So, the dead cutie, what was his name... Tanaka? No, that's Aphy's kid. Hmm."

"Nakamura." Erato nodded.

"Oh, right! Yeah! Cutie."

"He is." Erato nodded. "And he's only a year or so older than Nico, and he died when he was fourteen. So now they're the same age."

"Perfect. Does he need any fixing? I can do a few small things if he needs them?"

"Well, he has this grudge against Perseus that could get him killed."

"Yeah... I'll fix that."

"Maybe make him a bit more charismatic? So he can stay alive?"

Calliope nods, scribbling a few things down on a new piece of paper. "Yeah, good idea."

"And..." Erato hums. "We don't know much about him. We can add some things. What does Di Angelo need most?"

"Someone who understands him but doesn't crowd him? Kinda... you know how Grace was around him for a bit, and they were pretty close? Something like that, but with less... Grace."

Erato understood completely. "Knows he needs a lot but understands what too much is."

"Yes."

"Add it. What should I write for their love?"

"I did, and.... well, Persephone had to put the ghost somewhere, after Perseus went back upstairs?"

"Are you suggesting something vaguely kinky and weird and Athena-esque?"

"...Yes?"

Erato looked down as she started writing. "How does Nakamura get out?"

"I'll think of something. Do some research. Leave that to me." Callie starts writing.

Erato nodded, and left the poem for them unfinished.


	3. Chapter 3

Melpomene has her hand running through her sister's hair, petting her and comforting her as she talks. "It's okay Thals, none of us have a perfect ma..."she trails off, her eyes resting on Nico Di Angelo. She stands abruptly, walking around the big table to get to the boy.

Thalia, whose head had been in her sister's lap, falls onto the floor with a yelp. "Wha- Mels?! Wait!" She scrambles up, frowning. "What was that?!"

Melpomene ignores her in favor of tipping Nico's chin up to her so she can look into his eyes. Percy is next to him, silent and confused.

Thalia frowns. "Mels?" She sees what her sister is doing, and to who, and she stomps her foot. "Oh that's no fair! You have a poster child?! You're not allowed to have one if I don't!"

"Then get one!" Melpomene snaps. "I won't let him pass me by."

"Nobody has a good sense of humor! Not a one of them!"

The Hermes cabin makes offended noises in the background, but Melpomene ignores them. "Then fix Valdez!" She replies.

"That'd be so much work! And he's sooooo bad. His jokes haven't been funny since his introduction."

Percy finally pipes up. "But... Leo died." Melpomene groans. "I wish." She pushes Nico's bangs out of his eyes, petting his hair, his head, his face, anything she can reach.

"If he'd died he'd be in Mel's jurisdiction. And she'd be happy. But he's alive and a horrible character, it's gross. I can't even make a good joke about it. Poor Calypso."

Percy bites his lip. "But he already went to see Calypso. He can't go back, that was the rule." Melpomene looked at him. "I know. Fuck Aphy's games. She's touched you too, ruined you."

"I don't really have a reason to dislike Aphrodite, but gods Valdez and Calypso is horrible. And the conclusion was worse."

Melpomene nodded. "He was tragic and beautiful and mine but then she shoved her grimy and badly manicured hand into it." There's a rumble above camp and annoyed whispers from the Aphrodite cabin.

Thalia glares at the Aphrodite cabin, and pouts. "I wouldn't mind too much if at least one of you could tell jokes. But the only good one is McLean and I can't even take credit for it."

Piper fist pumps, her fist knocking into Polyhymnia's boob. She turns around in confusion, and Polyhymnia smiles scarily. "You pay attention to your myths. You're mine now, okay?" Granted, Piper has little choice.

Calliope and Erato appear then, holding a bunch of papers.

Urania catches Hazel by the fire, and starts talking to her about stars and her death and how she now wants to teach her about them. Erato smiles at Thalia. "Can I ask a favor, Tha-Tha?"

Thalia glances up. "What about?"

Calliope sighs. "We fixed them, Gods, we fixed them. Well, most of them."

"Can you take Leo? We can bring him to you, but can you take him?"

Thalia sighed. "Fine. But I'll need a bunch of free time to fix him. So no new stories until I'm done!"

Erato nodded. "I made him aro ace until you're ready for him to not be. And he got Calypso out of prison!" She starts jumping up and down excitedly.

Thalia claps her hands a little, smiling. "Okay, I can work with that. But still, no new material 'til I'm done. I can't rebuild somebody and make new jokes at the same time."

Melpomene snorts, still fondling a confused and frightened Nico.

Calliope nods. "I've got some work to do anyway."

Connor Stoll, his brother still sitting at the Hermes table, wanders over to Nico. "Hey, di Angelo. Why's the muse of Tragedy holding you?"

Nico groaned, and Melpomene shushed him, picking him up and taking him back to her seat.

Connor tilted his head in confusion. There was a commotion outside, and a large bronze dragon landed.

Leo and Calypso are seen getting off, and Piper is there in a heartbeat, her fist impacting Leo's face. However, when she goes for a hug, something happens.

Thalia wraps an arm around his face. "Yoink! I need to borrow this. Goodbye~" She disappears with Leo, a burst of confetti the only sign she'd been there.

Calypso sways, looking on in confusion. Erato comes over to her, wrapping her arms around her. "Congrats! Now, Callie, take Calypso to Reyna."

Calliope grins. "Of course." Calliope grabs Calypso's shoulder, and disappears. She appears in front of Reyna, and smiles sweetly. "Hello dear. This is not a demigod. Have fun."

Erato looks at Percy disdainfully, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I will fix you if it's the last thing I do."

Terpsichore disappears, and cups Frank's face in the roman camp. "I require you to meet me in a dance hall."

Euterpe, sad that she didn't get Piper, sits next to Jason. "You have a good set of lungs on you. Erato would have you use it for other things, but I have use for you."

Jason blinks a little. "Uh... okay..."

Melpomene can't stop touching her favorite, who might be close to tears.

~o~

Calliope had a few steps in her next plan, for the ghost cutie and another cutie, too, but she needed a bit of help. Good thing Athena was willing to do things for her if she asked nicely.

Athena smiles at Calliope, sitting down with her closed basket and knitting needles. "No one has asked me to knit them anything in years. What did you want, again?"

"The most anatomically correct male golems you can make."

Athena nods. "Butt stuff and all? Color coded?"

Calliope nods. "Mmhmm."

Athena starts, making the organs fun colors such as lime green, pale pink, and sky blue. She starts on a violet penis, and looks up at Calliope. "What size? Length and thickness? What about the scrotum?"

"They're for a fourteen year-old and a sixteen year-old. Other than that, you've got free reign to do as you please."

Athena nodded, making it roughly average thickness but just over average length, and makes everything else a reasonable size. She continues up, and pauses at the head. "Should it be generic or specific?"

"Generic, I've got some plans for specifics later." She smiles.

She nods, and when she finishes she begins working on a smaller one, who she thinks will be used for the fourteen year old.

Calliope starts scribbling something down, smiling to herself. "Thanks again, babe."

Athena smiles back as she works on it. "Any chance you'll tell me what these dears will be used for?"

"To make one sad little demigod happy, and to give another demigod who got a bad rep another chance. My sisters and I have been fixing up this latest epic, and I'm just finishing things up." She smiles brightly.

Athena nods. "All I ask in return is that you keep my children happy. I know I can't do too much for them, but you can."

"I'm working my way up the cabins, currently. Once the seven are done I'll start with the boss's. Yours're after them."

Athena smiles warmly, and it's a good sight. "Thank you."

Calliope grins. "Least I can do, babe."

Athena finishes the smaller golem. "How will you use these? Are you going to visit Hecate next?"

"They'll be used to bring a pair of ghosts back. And yep."

Athena nods, and stands, brushing herself off. "There you go, a pair of pubescent teenage boy golems."

"Thanks babe." Calliope blows a kiss, before grabbing the golems and heading toward Hecate.

Hecate was working on a little project for Hepheastus, humming along to the record she has playing scratchily in the background. She could mend it, but she prefers the way it sounds now, all warbly and scratchy. She hears a knock at her door and sets the project in a velvet box. "Yes, Calliope?"

"I need a quick favor. I'm doing a thing, and it requires a pair of golems who look and seem like real humans. I've got the golems already, I just need magic."

Hecate nods, and goes to grab a bag, and puts some two liters of mist into it. "Just coat the entire golem in this, then you know the drill from there." She smiled. "Have fun."

Calliope grins. "Thanks Tee!" She takes the bag.

Hecate nods and closes the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last of this fic, at least right now  
> we might do more, we had stuff planned  
> but we dont have anything more written  
> we'll see

It's taken her just under a month, but it's finally done. She's rebuilt him. Thalia tugs the cloth she'd thrown over Leo's head off and throws it into the air. "I've done it! He's funny!"

Melpomene had been sitting in the room, petting Nico's face. She'd been nearly inseparable from him, crooning over him all the time. She looks up at her sister and smiles. "Really? Congratulations!"

Thalia fist pumps a few times, and toots her bugle in triumph. Leo sits up slowly, grumbling.

Nico looks up at him and slowly detaches himself from Mels. She lets him leave, coming to stand by her sister.

Thalia throws her arms around Melpomene, sighing contentedly. Leo blinks what. "Uh... what happened?"

"You've been through trauma." Melpomene immediately replies. "We're Melpomene and Thalia, the muses of tragedy and comedy respectively. You're Thals' favorite now, don't disappoint." She smiles.

Thalia steps away from her sister and cups Leo's face in her hands. "I've rebuilt you. You are now capable of telling good jokes. Tell one, now."  
"Uh..."

Melpomene smiles encouragingly.

Leo thinks a second, before lighting up. "Knock knock."  
Thalia's eyes narrow. "Who's there?"  
"Owls say."  
"Owls say who?"  
"Yep."

Melpomene cracked a smile at that.

Thalia blinked once, and then she smiled so wide it looked like it hurt. "I did it! You're perfect!" She grabbed him and hugged him close, pressing his face to her chest.

Melpomene kissed her sister's cheek. "I'm proud of you."

Thalia sniffles. "This is my masterpiece."

"I'm proud of you." Melpomene replies.

Thalia lets Leo go, who stumbles back gasping for air, and throws her arms around Melpomene. "I can't believe it worked!"

"I can, I knew you could do it." Melpomene rolls her eyes.

Thalia just starts crying happy tears. Leo gagged a little, before sitting down a few feet away.

Melpomene hums, then looks down as she hears a buzzing. She checks her phone- all of the gods had phones, who doesn't in this day and age?- and shows the picture to Thalia. "Callie got the golems. Now she just needs Persephone's permission and the souls. And, of course, the something extra."

"Good for her." Thalia pulls away to cuddle Leo. "I'm so pleased with you. I'm gonna show you off."

Melpomene leaves, deciding to separate from her other half for now.

Thalia cuddles Leo, who sits still and lets her cuddle. He's not gonna tell a pretty godly lady no.   
Meanwhile, Connor feels something is amiss.

~o~

Euterpe comes into cabin One, holding a folder and her flute, her guitar slung over her back. "I've got some new things we could sing, or we could talk. Which would you prefer?"

Jason bites his lip. "Uh... talk first? If that's okay?"

She nods, sitting her things down before joining him on the bed. They're sitting on one of the ones in Zeus' view, the uncomfortable beds. "Yes?"

"Um... I know you guys got here kinda suddenly and picked each one of us who represented your sphere best. But... why, exactly, did you?"

"It started with Melpomene. She decided she wanted Nico, and we have this whole thing where we all get the same amount of things, to a degree. And every hundred years or so, we do this anyways. We were about twenty years late on choosing."

Jason nods slowly. "Okay. Just a couple questions... why did your sister, uh... Thalia..." He coughs. "Why'd she grab Leo? And where'd she take him?"

"She wanted to fix him. We do that, since we're the muses and technically goddesses of literature and the arts." She sighs. "And your story? Yours and Percy's? It needs quite a bit of work. Leo and Percy needed the most, but all of you need something or the other."

Jason frowns. "Uh... if you say so..."

Euterpe gets a text, and smiles as she reads it. "Phase two is done, and Thals finished Leo."

Jason blinks. "He's okay?"

"Better than, he told a good joke! Thalia is beside herself."

Jason blinks. "But... he could tell jokes already."

"They were bad and he was unkind. He didn't care about his friends and didn't understand people, nor did he try. He used his friends and tossed them when he had no more use for them, and didn't trust them enough to tell them anything- he was alive the whole time, Jason. Pursuing a girl he was with a week. He was obsessive and rude and disrespectful." She shakes her head.

Jason blinks, and bites his lip, frowning. "I. Oh."

"And now he's been fixed. The obsessive part was taken care of when Erato adjusted his preferences, and all of the past month was Thalia working on his humor. I don't want to know the work that took."

Jason nods a little, still biting his lip.

"You alright?" Euterpe asks.

"I just... He was a constant, for a long time, and he was my best friend. I... it kinda hurts, to realize he didn't care."

She wraps an arm around his shoulder. "Now you can make new memories with a friend who will appreciate you. I'm sorry he was that way before, and that we didn't intervene sooner."

Jason nods a little, sighing. "Thank you, for doing it at all."

"And we brought him back. He would have been content flying around with her forever, but I can't get over the fact that they didn't work at all. They constantly fought, and only fell in love because of her island's magic and her singing."

Jason frowns. "That's horrible. I'm glad it didn't stay that why."

Euterpe nodded. "He wasn't a very good person. But now he can do other things, like care about his friends and not alienate people around him with rude comments."

Jason nods again, smiling. "Thank you."

She squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. "You're welcome. Let's hope it actually works all the time."

Jason nods a little. "Okay, what did you wanna sing?"

"Counting stars by one republic, I think your voice would do well with it." She smiles at him and grabs the folder, handing it to him. "Have you heard it before?"

Jason thought a moment. "Uh, I don't think so..."

She pulled out her phone again, and brought it up.

Jason shrugged a little, as he listened. "I'm not really familiar with it, no."

"Do you want to have a few days to get familiar with it, then try? Plus we have a lot going on, with the golems and Nakamura and Summ-" she bit her lip. "Forget that."

Jason blinked. "Uh. Okay..."

She squeezed his shoulder again. "Just so you know, we have a big project coming up. Callie and Erato are the main ones behind it, but I've been listening in. And I know they wanted me to tell you something..." She takes a deep breath.

Jason blinked. "What is it?"

"You're attractive. And you don't realize it, and oftentimes people get attracted to you and that only ends one of two ways- you get with them or you break their hearts. This has consistently happened with nearly everyone you know, and I'm telling you now, a heartbreak via Jason Grace is not a pretty sight. One of them did something really bad after you broke their heart. And don't feel bad, just, try not to encourage it, alright?"

Jason blinked. "I'm sorry? I. What?"

"You're cute and you're nice and you're funny. And you're clueless. Reyna, Octavian, and probably everyone have liked you at some point or the other." She says flatly.

Jason blinked a few times, and bit his lip. "I. Oh. Wait. Octavian?"

"Yes. From the time he was twelve to the time he was sixteen, well, late sixteen, he had a raging hardon for you. When Reyna told him she liked you, he thought he didn't have a chance and became a hateful, bitter, bitch."

Jason frowned. "I thought it was growing pains." He mumbles a little, biting his lip. He really doesn't know what to say, really. But... it did make sense.

She nodded. "He did grow a lot around then. Part of the reason he sent himself up over the camp in that flaming ball of gold was because he was upset over, and I quote, 'traitor Jason Grace'. His actions all through the later part of the story are easily explained with the background knowledge that he, at an extensive point in his life, wanted your dick up his ass. Well, wanted to date you. Still unsure if he's interested in sex or not."

Jason blinks, and bites his lip, and there might be tears. Wow. He hadn't really expected that.

She stares at him, then curses, pulling him into a hug. "Sorry, I forget that you're as sensitive as a newborn duck and as adorable as a mewling baby kitten fresh from its mothers' womb. Don't cry, a lot of bad things happen to and around you. It's probably Hera's fault, blame Aphrodite."

Jason gulps, but leans into the hug, trying to will himself not to cry. He'd already just barely gotten through learning his best friend hadn't cared about him without crying, now he learns another close friend had had a crush on him, and had been hurt by him, and had gone insane because of him, and he hadn't been able to tell. Jason sucked in a short breath, and blinked back a few more tears.

"Cry if you need to, just know Octavian is getting a second chance."

Jason sniffled, and then he just let himself cry, because quite honestly he'd never really let himself, since he'd been old enough to force the tears down, and it wouldn't hurt to cry about this. Maybe it would make the pain go away faster.

Euterpe rocks him, mumbling soothing words to him and singing to him.

Jason cries himself out, and afterwards he manages to whisper a soft thank you to the Muse, because she really didn't have to stay, or try to make him feel better. Or even really do any of the things she'd done for him, and he was thankful.

Ignoring the fact that it was her fault Jason had been crying, Euterpe feels good as she gathers her things. "Take a nap, I'll have a gift for you in a month. It's called peace of mind and it has a certain someone heavily involved in it, but sleep now. When you wake, the Hermes cabin will be insane with worry, but you can't do anything about that now."

Jason opens his mouth to argue, but... Sleep sounds really good, too. He ends up lying down and napping anyway.

Terp leaves, heading for Callie. She needs the Octavian plan moving forwards quicker.

Calliope had just set the plan into motion, having gotten Ethan and Octavian's souls from Persephone, along with her little special something, and was making preperations for a game. She'd asked Persephone to watch Octavian and the other one for a bit, a month at most, while she made preparations for Ethan's return to the living.

Euterpe reaches Calliope's room and knocks patiently, wanting to talk things over.


End file.
